The wireless Emergency Alert System (EAS) is capable of providing messages indicative of a variety of types of alerts. Via the EAS, subscribers thereof can receive messages pertaining to weather conditions, disasters, AMBER (America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) alerts, and/or alerts issued by the Government, for example. To receive EAS messages, typically, a subscriber registers with a communications network via a mobile switching center (MSC). An MSC performs functions such as registration, authentication, location updating, handovers, and call routing. One MSC can support multiple cellular sites. Cellular sites can provide EAS messages on different channels. When a subscriber registers with an MSC, all emergency alert channels in the cellular sites supported by the MSC are reserved for EAS alert messages. Reserving multiple channels is an inefficient use of resources.